Spain’s conservative People’s Party claimed victory in Sunday’s regional election in Andalusia but will need to form a coalition with the far-right Vox party to maintain control after losing their outright majority.
The election in Spain’s most populated region served as a political preview for next year’s anticipated national contest, where the same conservative alliance aims to remove Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after nearly a decade of left-wing leadership.
Campaign issues centered heavily around healthcare system failures, drug trafficking problems, and joblessness throughout the region.
The People’s Party secured 53 legislative seats, dropping from their previous 58 in 2022 and falling short of the 55-seat threshold needed for complete control in the 109-member regional assembly.
The Socialist Party lost two positions, ending with 28 seats in what represents their poorest performance ever in what was once considered their electoral fortress. Meanwhile, Vox gained one seat for a total of 15, improving from their previous 14.
The left-wing regional party Adelante Andalucia experienced significant growth, jumping from two seats four years ago to eight, while the leftist Por Andalucia coalition maintained their existing five seats.
“We said it would be complicated. We have fallen short,” regional leader Juanma Moreno of the PP stated, having campaigned on promises of moderate governance without Vox involvement.
The People’s Party has previously established coalition agreements with Vox in the Extremadura and Aragon regions and appears positioned to create a similar arrangement in Castile and Leon in the coming weeks.
Socialist candidate Maria Jesus Montero, who previously held positions as the nation’s Budget Minister and Sanchez’s first deputy, accepted responsibility for the disappointing outcome and promised her party would address its shortcomings.
Andalusia remained solidly Socialist territory until 2018, when anti-establishment sentiment fueled Vox’s rise. This marked the first occasion in Spain’s democratic era that the People’s Party struck a deal with far-right forces for support, though that arrangement dissolved in 2022 when the PP achieved absolute majority control.
